WS Admin
April 15, 2005
By the WS Administration Department
As was explained in "Forward, Always Forward" (ML #3479, GN 1067), the minimum Home size requirement in the Charter is being raised to six members 18 years of age and above. Although the new Home size minimum, and these rules, won't be in effect for Family discipleship Homes until January 2005, we thought you would want to know a few more details about them now.
Over the course of Summit 2003 there were many aspects of this change that were brought up for discussion, which a committee of COs and VSs discussed in detail, taking into account all sides of the picture and how any changes made would affect the Family at large. These issues were brought to the Lord for His counsel. Proposals were then drawn up that were presented to the entire leadership body. After further discussion of points brought out by the whole body, these proposals were fine-tuned and will be the basis of the amendments to the Home size rules that will be written into the Charter. The following is an explanation of the major points covered and the consensus that was reached.
These rules will go into effect on January 25, 2005‚ meaning that those Homes that wish to remain Family discipleship Homes must be at a minimum of six voting members 18 years of age and above at that time. Any Home that has not reached the six-man minimum by that date will automatically become a Missionary member Home.
Currently the Charter allows for two or three members, 18 years of age and above, to open a Home in any city that is not designated as a closed city, provided they have the permission of any CM Homes (if there are any) in that city. With the raising of the Home size to six members and the focus being on building winning teams, all new Homes will need to start with a minimum of four members 18 years of age or above and will have four months to reach the minimum Home size of six. The one exception to this rule will be pioneer Homes. Please see the section below entitled "Definition of a Family Discipleship Pioneer Home" for details on what constitutes a Family discipleship pioneer Home.
Pioneering has always been an important part of the Family and our obedience to the great commission to "go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature." The Lord admonished us to "go and make disciples of all nations," and the Family wouldn't be where it is today without all of you brave pioneers. By raising the Home size requirement, we realize that when it comes to those who would like to launch out and pioneer, it may not always be possible to have six members 18 years of age and above willing to go and try it. But even a pioneer Home needs to be a solid team and be a good sample of Family discipleship in building a well-rounded work. Our recommendation is that the team be formed before going to pioneer. Ideally, teams should get their members together first before pioneering a Home, even if a smaller scouting team goes ahead to find housing.
We realize that sometimes people will be more readily drawn to a team that is already in a pioneer field and is seeking personnel to further the work, rather than committing to the team ahead of time. Because of this‚ and because we do want to encourage pioneers to launch out, the Charter will continue to allow pioneer Homes to have a grace period of up to six months to reach the six-man minimum.
In addition, a two- or three-man pioneer Home may be opened, but only with the permission of the COs in the region. Such a Home will need to bring its members up to the minimum Home size of six members within six months, just the same as with a four- or five-man pioneer Home. The Charter will not allow leadership to grant exceptions beyond these "built-in" exceptions. After those six months‚ if the pioneer Home has not reached at least six members 18 years of age or above‚ it will automatically be placed on probationary notice; and if at the end of two months of probationary notice the Home does not have the minimum number of Home members, it will be moved to Missionary member status until it can bring its membership up to six members 18 and over. At that time it can reapply for Family discipleship in accordance with the procedures for Missionary member Homes applying for Family discipleship Home status.
Those who don't fall under these exceptions for pioneer Homes will have four months to bring their numbers up to the six-man minimum. By their fourth monthly report, if the Home has not reached the minimum Home size, it will automatically be placed on probationary notice. If the Home does not have the minimum number of members by the end of the second month of PN‚ it will be moved to Missionary member status.
Currently the Charter allows a Home that falls under the minimum Home size four months to increase its population‚ after which time it will go on PN. This will not change. If members leaving a Home results in the Home falling below the minimum of six members 18 and over (but not less than two members 18 and over), the Home will be allowed to remain as a Family discipleship Home, provided by the fourth monthly report after their membership dropped below the minimum it shows a population of at least six members 18 and over. After four months, if the Home has not reached at least six members 18 years of age and above, it will automatically be placed on probationary notice. The Home will be moved to Missionary member status if it does not reach the six-man minimum by the end of the second month of their PN. This rule will be strictly enforced, and the COs will not have the authority to grant exceptions to Homes which do not meet this requirement.
As explained earlier‚ we are not encouraging six-man Homes. We are encouraging 8– to 15-man Homes that will have all the components necessary to build a well-rounded team. You will not be penalized if your Home only has the minimum. However, if your Home is repeatedly falling below the minimum and then receiving new members just in time to retain its discipleship Home status, it is unlikely that you will be able to have a solid team and will thus fail the yearly Home review.
If you want to have a winning team, you must have enough members in your Home to allow for fluctuation in personnel and still remain above the minimum. At the Home review, the average size of the Home over the entire year will be taken into account and the Home will be evaluated accordingly.
Home size in sensitive countries will be the same as other Family discipleship Homes, unless exceptions are requested by the COs in the region and are granted by WS. Exceptions on Home size in sensitive countries can only be requested on an individual Home basis, not countrywide.
The focus in building your Home is on building winning teams. While many 16- and 17-year-olds are vital members of the Home and an important part of a winning team‚ they are not required to make a solid commitment to discipleship until they are 18 years old, as explained in "The Shakeup 2000" (ML #3257). Senior teens do participate in and carry responsibility in the ministries of the Home, but most senior teens are also still studying and need to be given sufficient time for their scholastics and vocational training in order to meet the requirements for obtaining a high school diploma. They also need to be free to participate in JT board activities, camps and fellowships, participate in training/exchange programs, etc. It's important that senior teens learn to grow into discipleship without having to carry the same weight as those members who are 18 years of age and above and have signed the Family Disciple Contract (formerly the Charter Member Contract), or being pressured to remain in a Home that can't fulfill their needs just so that Home can reach or maintain its minimum size.
For these reasons, we feel that it would be best for the Home to build its team on members who have signed the Family Disciple Contract. This does not mean that senior teens are not able nor expected to be sold-out, dedicated, and participate in the Home as a part of the winning team, but only that they will be an addition to a solid core of members 18 and above—sold-out, dedicated senior teens being a bonus to the Home.
New disciples and returning members are not full-fledged Family disciples until they have gone through their trial period and the Home has voted to accept them as full voting members. Since we are striving toward Homes being built by a solid core of members who are experienced and able to sustain a well-rounded missionary work‚ we feel it's important that only members 18 years of age and above who have signed the Family Disciple Contract be counted toward the minimum Home membership. And while those going through disciplinary procedures still count in the Home minimum, new disciples and returnees cannot be counted toward the minimum Home size until they have fulfilled the Charter requirements for membership‚ been accepted by the Home, and have signed the Family Disciple Contract.
If a Home is going to be a winning team and reach its goals, its members have to stick together to build a Home by spending the majority of their time living together in one place. Being alone and away from the Home for extended periods of time is not good for the individual, nor does it lend itself to a spirit of communal living and building a local work.
The Charter currently allows the Home to decide how long members may be away from their Home. At times there are legitimate reasons for members to be away from Home, such as board seminars‚ CP, JT, YP or Family Camps‚ CTPs, witnessing trips, etc., and these can be a positive promotion of the Home's goals and the goals of the Family. There are also times when a Home member needs to be away from the Home for personal or Home business, visits to relatives, medical reasons, etc.
However, it has also become clear‚ since the implementation of the Charter, that having Home members away for extended periods of time, even for witnessing or other positive reasons, can weaken the Home and the individual's spiritual life and make it difficult to truly live Acts 2:44,45 and build a local work. If your Home regularly allows its members to be away for long periods of time, the Home most likely will not be able to fulfill its responsibilities to be a winning team and may not be able to remain as a Family discipleship Home. Thus we feel for a Home to be a winning team it needs to spend the majority of its time together working on building a work.
We will be amending the Charter so that the Home, with a majority vote, can only allow their members to be away from the Home for a maximum of one month at a time.
We realize, however, that there will be times when an exception to this rule is needed. In this case the Home will be able, with a two-thirds majority vote, to allow members to be away from the Home for a longer period of time, provided they confirm this with the Lord and notify their rules and clearance council (RCC) in writing of the exception, where the individuals are going, the reasons for their time away from the Home, how long the exception is granted for, the prophecies received, and any other pertinent details regarding the matter.
This information, as well as the total time in a calendar year that each individual is away from the Home, will be taken into account at the Home review and the Home will be evaluated accordingly.
A Family discipleship pioneer Home is defined in conjunction with the new Charter "Home Size Rules‚" which state that a team of four voting members 18 years of age or older can function as a pioneer Home for their first six months before they are required to reach the minimum Home size of six voting members 18 and above.
The COs in the region in which the new Home is opening may, under extenuating circumstances, grant certain exceptions to the original size requirements of the pioneer team, allowing two or three members 18 and over to open the Home. Regardless of initial size exceptions, after six months the pioneer team must have increased its population to six voting members 18 years of age or older, all of whom have signed the Family Disciple Contract, or the Home will be placed on probationary notice according to the Charter "Procedure for Placing a Home on Probationary Notice."
After receiving the potential pioneer Home's application for pioneer status, the COs in the region will make the final determination on whether it fulfills the necessary eligibility requirements for receiving pioneer status and receiving a FAF pioneer gift.
For a new team to qualify for pioneer status, they must fulfill at least one of the following criteria. A Home not fulfilling one of the following criteria will be considered a new Home and not a pioneer Home, according to the Charter "Home Size Rules," and will not be eligible for a FAF pioneer gift.
A Family discipleship pioneer Home must be:
1. Opening a new work in a country or metropolitan area with no Family discipleship Homes.
Or
2. Establishing a work, ministry or service in any city or metropolitan area that the COs in the region consider beneficial to the furtherance of the Gospel and the existing work‚ or which would fill a needed service to other Homes within that country or region. Homes wishing to qualify for this criterion must apply to the COs in their region, and must still follow the Charter guidelines in the "Procedures for Opening a Home in a City or Metropolitan Area with Family Discipleship Homes."
If the COs in the region grant pioneer status to the new team, the FAF pioneer gift (which at present amounts to $500 cash and $500 worth of distribution tools) will be sent to the pioneer Home soon after the reporting office receives the first TRF from their pioneer Home.
Missionary members (no less than three people 18 years and over) intending to pioneer a new Home in a metropolitan area or country other than the one in which the majority of them reside, may apply for a FAF pioneer gift. The COs in the region in which the new Home is opening will consider the team's request for pioneer status according to the Home's proposed reasons for opening their Home, the city or country in which they are opening their Home, whether there are already any Homes in that metropolitan area, the amount of witnessing and tool distribution they presently do, their proposed means of support, and the extent and type of work they propose to establish in their new field. In most cases pioneer Missionary member Homes will be ones opening a Home in a metropolitan area that does not have any Family disciple or Missionary member Homes. Pioneer teams asking to open a Home in a city with other Family Homes must follow the Missionary Member Statutes' guidelines for opening a Home in a city or metropolitan area with other existing Homes.
If the COs of the region grant pioneer status to the new team, the FAF pioneer gift, which at present amounts to $500 cash and $500 worth of distribution tools‚ will be sent to the pioneer Home soon after the reporting office receives the first TRF from their new field.
Missionary member Homes will be required to tithe, as well as give their 1% to the FAF and 3% to the common pot of their local area.
Regarding the benefits for Missionary members:
MM Homes that were previously CM will continue to receive all the pubs that CM Homes receive today, and they will receive as much service from the boards as the boards and their members are able to give.
Missionary members can sit as board members if appointed by the continental council. However, the board chairperson as well as the majority of members on each board must be Family disciples. Missionary members may not sit on the VS boards, and continued membership on all other boards will remain at the discretion of each regional council.
MM Homes will receive the following FAF benefits: Home loans, baby bonuses, pass-on gifts, and tool funds. Pioneer gifts will also be available to Missionary member Homes if the COs in the region decide they are eligible, according to the Missionary member pioneer Home requirements. (Please see the Missionary Member Statutes for the details on MM pioneer Home requirements.) There will, however, be a variation concerning the HER for MM Homes as explained earlier in this GN.
MM Homes will qualify for emergency funds just as FD Homes do, but they will not retain them in their Homes in the form of the HER. To make sure the emergency funds are available to MM Homes quickly, WS will make arrangements to ensure that any qualifying MM Home that requests assistance gets its emergency funds within 48 hours. Remote MM Homes will be given $500 of emergency funds to use immediately in an emergency until more FAF funds can be gotten to them.
The following will now be the procedure that the COs and RCCs will use when it is necessary to reclassify a Family discipleship Home to a Missionary member Home.
A.A Family discipleship Home's status can only be withdrawn and the Home and all its members moved to Missionary member status by the rules and clearance council or regional continental officers if the Home violates, contravenes, or fails to fulfill the Responsibilities of a Family Discipleship Home, the "Fundamental Family Rules," or the principles or requirements in the "Conviction vs. Compromise" series of Letters.
B.A Family discipleship Home can be moved to Missionary membership either by a two-third's majority of their rules and clearance council or by the regional continental officers providing the following procedure is adhered to:
1.The rules and clearance council must write a letter to the Home, or visit the Home if they feel it is necessary, explaining the reasons for the change of status, and showing just cause for the change of status of the Home.
2.If the Home does not contest the decision of the rules and clearance council, the change to a Missionary member Home will become official.
3.If‚ upon receipt of the letter from the rules and clearance council, a majority of the Family discipleship Home's voting members are in disagreement with the rules and clearance council's decision, they may within seven days send a letter of rebuttal to their regional continental officers, with a copy to the rules and clearance council.
a.The regional continental officers‚ upon receiving the Home's rebuttal, must review the decision made by the rules and clearance council, taking into consideration both sides, and make a decision on the Home's status within 30 days.
b.While under review, unless the Home is notified otherwise by the regional continental officers, the Home will remain a Family discipleship Home.
c.Once the regional continental officers have made their decision‚ they will notify the Home and the rules and clearance council of their decision and the Home will either remain a Family discipleship Home or will become a Missionary member Home.
Copyright © 2004 by The Family
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